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Hello folks, its been a while since I’ve posted anything related to the story I’m working on, and for that I apologize. Life during the Zombie apocalypse is hard. Today though, I have something I dug up from one of my school projects where we had to read the book “World War Z” and then write a chapter based off of it, as if we were survivors of the Zombie War. I loosely based the story I wrote off of what I’m doing here on this blog, so I thought it would only be fitting if I shared it here as well. Let me know what you think.

Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States

I meet my contact at the old Starbucks on the main street. Since the end of the war, this particular Starbucks has stayed pretty much the same old coffee shop. My contact wants to remain nameless, saying that the Government is still after him and his compatriots for what they did in Texas. He keeps looking over his shoulder, expecting Big Brother, or what remains of it, to be there to cart him away. Once we get our coffees though, he relaxes a little and instructs me to put his name down as Night Angel.

Where are you from?

Originally? I was born and raised on the Iowa/Illinois border in a town called Eldridge. After graduating High School, I moved around a lot, I spent a few years in old Des Moines, two in Council Bluffs, before finally settling here in Cedar Falls. At least, before the world ended I lived here. Since the end of the war, I’ve had to move around a lot to avoid detection. I’m actually leaving town tonight, trying to get away from the big cities.

What are you running from?

It’s not so much what as it is who. There are a few people in the new government who want to see me, and a few of my friends, captured and tried for treason. We did some things that weren’t very popular with the politicians and their propaganda.

Such as?

Well, For now, let’s just say that my friends and I took over an abandoned government building and used it as our base of operations to attempt to debase the rumors being spread by the government.

The propaganda?

Yeah, they kept saying things like “We have everything under control…” and “Please Stay Calm, everything will be fine” at first, and then as the war continued, they started saying that the disease was a bio-chemical attack by the Russians, then they changed their story to say that the disease was curable, and that everyone should flock to the big cities to get the cure. We know how well all of that turned out.

What did you do before the apocalypse?

Believe it or not, I was an English Teacher. I spent my weekdays and nights teaching the youth of Cedar Falls, and on the weekends I would go camping in the woods throughout the Midwest and elsewhere. I taught myself the skills needed for hunting, and learned more about tracking and foraging. I became quite skilled with night time tracking and hunting, as well as more proficient with hunting rifles and bows and crossbows. A lot of the parents didn’t like it, but they kept quiet. It was Iowa after all, we grew up hunting, they just didn’t feel comfortable with my openness about it I guess.

Can you tell me about the first zombie you ran into?

It was one of my students. Erick was his name. [After a few moments of silence, Nighthawk takes a drink of his coffee and glances off into the distance. I follow his gaze, he’s looking at what used to be a school building, but was now a Red Cross shelter.]

Erick was a Freshman, he was obviously sick, but it was finals week before summer break. Around lunchtime, I heard a commotion in the hallway, and the principal got on the intercom and issued a Lockdown. I went to lock my classroom door, and a few students came in from the hall. I looked down the hall and saw Erick hunched over someone. I went up to see what was wrong, and saw the person he was hunched over was his sister, Kayla. Her guts were spilled out and Erick was holding her entrails in his hands, getting ready to eat them. I gasped and stepped back, which caused him to look at me. He started coming towards me but I was able to get into my room and lock the door before he got to me. A few minutes later, we saw military vehicles pulling up to the school and men in full combat armor came out and entered the school. I didn’t know at the time what happened, they said that Erick was very sick and was being taken to Iowa City for treatment. I later found out that they had killed him on the spot, and took his body to Iowa City for examination, along with the body of Kayla.. It wasn’t long after that that the zombies really started to emerge in Cedar Falls, and I fled with my wife and a few students.

Where did you go?

At first we went to my wife’s hometown of McClelland, Iowa which is about 15 minutes from Council Bluffs. Most of my students had succumbed to illness, suicide or zombie bite by the time we reached my wife’s childhood home. The two students that were left of the original eight were welcomed along with us by her parents who raised cattle and had a small farm of their own. There were 9 of us living in that small house, my in-laws and brother in-law and his wife and kid, me and my wife, and two students.

How did you survive on the farm?

The students went to work helping around the farm, tending the livestock, weeding the garden, harvesting what they could, while my brother in law and I started setting up a perimeter fence. About a week after we arrived, I heard on the radio about how the military was being overrun in the south. I don’t know what prompted me to leave McClelland, but I decided to take a trip down to Kansas City, KS to take a look. My students wanted to come with me, my wife didn’t. She told me that if I left, to never come back. To this day, I still don’t know if she or her family are still alive.

What happened when you got to Kansas City?

I found the FEMA Region 7 headquarters demolished. Almost the whole city was in ruins and overrun with the dead. I met up with a guy who called himself Grisly Addams who said that he and a few of his neighbors who lived in Denton Texas, the home of FEMA Region 6, were holed up in the headquarters there, and that he was on a salvage run. He invited me and my students to join them there. Happy for some company, and potential safety, we went with him.

What happened when you got there?

We found the place under attack by zombies. The four of us were attacking them from the outside while Grisly’s neighbors were attacking from the inside. We managed to fight them off, but my student’s both received bites during the fight, and were sent away. I was welcomed in with open hearts and arms, though I had a difficult time dealing with losing my family and my students. [He pauses, taking another drink and scanning the crowd, almost as if he were looking for someone] After a while though, I forgot about them almost entirely, enjoying the company of my new family. We fortified the headquarters, cleaned it out and set up shop. We would venture out every few days to gather supplies and intelligence, but overall we kept to ourselves. We knew there were other pockets of survivors in Denton, but we ignored them as much as they ignored us. While we were scavenging in the old town hall, we found documents that suggested that the old government knew about the zombies well before they started taking over, but didn’t do anything. That was when we started infiltrating known government outposts, and when we started getting more support from the other local survivors. We found enough information that had the government still been intact, we would’ve been able to get almost every high ranking government official tried for conspiracy and treason. Its kind of ironic if you think about it.

How so?

Well, I have knowledge that could bring the government crashing down stored away in a safe location. Information that would brand a lot of the officials as terrorists and unpatriotic. That’s exactly what the government is saying about me and my friends.

It seems kind of odd that the government would have known about the zombies before they even reached the United States, doesn’t it?

Not if you think about it. Sure, this was a global pandemic, millions of lives at stake, but since when did the old government ever share everything with the populace? That was part of what we wanted to reveal to the public, the fact that the government had been lying to us for years. We became notorious among the political circles that still existed. We would infiltrate their compounds, sneak past all their guards and break into their record offices and take what we needed, never harming anyone unless we had to. I think that’s what pissed them off the most, the fact that we almost never killed anyone, and we still were able to get the information we came for.

So why is it that the new government is after you and your comrades?

Because of what we know, what we saw. They consider us security risks. This new government is very heavily based off the old one, with a lot of the same officials. The fact that we’ve evaded them this long proves they haven’t changed much, they still can’t find the “terrorists” they are looking for. That or that I’ve just become excessively paranoid, either way. [he laughs] Did you know that there is actually a bounty on us? Anyone who brings me, or any of my comrades into the local government will get a nice reward of property left vacant by the previous owners either being dead, undead, or just unaccounted for as well as a nice chunk of political clout. That’s another reason I move around so much, I don’t want anyone to get to know me well enough to learn my secrets, or figure out who I am.

Then why are you telling them to me?

[he smiles impishly] Because someone has to get the truth out there. That the new government is just as bad as the old one. We figure someone like you is more concerned about the truth than money, land or power.

What makes you say that?

We’ve been keeping an eye on your work for a while now, it is of great interest to us. We’ve already given one of your superiors all the information we have on the corruption of the government, both old and new. I wouldn’t be surprised if within the next month government officials start either disappearing or resigning.

Kadie and I had made it back to the States, opting to shorten our land journey by taking the boat down the coast to the gulf. Stopping in New Orleans to stock up on supplies, we approached Algiers Point, asking for temporary refuge, hoping for a hot meal and soft bed to sleep on.

We were met by Puggamoo, who explained that they would be more than happy to give us a few supplies, but they couldn’t afford to let us stay with them, not after the incident with Chyram a while back. She told us of a place a little further into the city where we may be able to find a place to stay the night, but warned us that the way there was swarming with Zombies, including a new breed dubbed by the CVC to be “Destroyers”.

The CVC had put out a bounty on these monsters, paying good money for the death of one of these behemoths. Curious, I managed to convince Kadie to come with me to investigate. Thanking Puggamoo for her help, and the help of Algiers Point, we headed off to see if we could find a few Destroyers to take down.

Setting up on a rooftop, we both pulled out our favored weapon. I chose my crossbow, Kadie chose her sniper. I raised an eyebrow at her. She smiled and said “It produces results, plus, it will be more likely to draw out the big boys.”

“Kadie, have I ever told you that I like your style?” I said with a laugh. With a smile, we proceeded to pick of some of the lesser zombies, keeping a wary eye our for our real prize.

After almost a half hour, we were starting to run out of ammo, and most of the zombies on the road below us were dead, so we decided to go to ground so I could collect my bolts, Kadie pulling out her pistol and machete. I had collected half my bolts when we heard it. A bellowing roar. Metal crunching. I looked at Kadie, and we silently agreed to get to the shadows, try and make our way to higher ground.

No sooner had we made it to the alley than a car came crashing down out of the blue.

OH SHIT! I thought. I grabbed Kadie’s arm and motioned for her to get down and stay quiet. My heart was racing, and I could tell hers was as well. A few seconds later, a giant appeared at the mouth of the alley. It was almost seven feet tall and all rippling muscles. It looked a lot like a Hulker, but on steroids. It was looking right at us.

“Kadie… RUN!” I yelled, throwing a couple hand grenades as we started down the alley, trying to make it to the other side before the beast made it to us. I heard the grenades go off and the zombie roared, but that seemed to just piss it off even more. It came charging at us, punching holes in the buildings around us. As we ran, I pulled out my assault rifle. Pausing, I wheeled around and unloaded my clip in the Destroyer’s direction.

I know I made contact with a few of my bullets, I heard the zombie yell out its frustration. “Kadie! Cover me!” I yelled, pulling out my Katana. Hearing the bark of Kadie’s rifle, I charged the Destroyer. Sliding between its feet, I sliced at its legs, trying to immobilize it. Kadie stalked forward, trying to keep its attention on her, firing round after round into the things chest. The beast howled and threw a punch my way, hitting me in the shoulder. I felt a sharp pop and chouldn’t feel my left arm anymore. I thrust my sword at its wretched face, catching its eyes. This gave Kadie the opportunity to line a kill shot up, blowing its brains out on the wall beside it.

Collecting the shackles, belt and head of the beast, we made our way back to our boat, determined to avoid more of those Destroyers at all costs.

We made it back to the boat without incident, and shoved off, heading towards Houston, where we could hopefully find a ride back to FEMA.

“Alright Night, here’s the deal. I wasn’t able to get very far into that tablet. I was only able to figure out a few things.”

“Like what Nic? Anything worthwhile?”

Nic smiled “Depends. Do you consider names of low ranking officers and the location of a potential base wothwile?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

Nic handed me the tablet, and he wasn’t kidding. Listed there on the screen were three names, and a set of coordinates in the USA.

I thanked Nic and my new friends at Hollinwood, and gave them a comm link so they could contact us at FEMA whenever they wanted. I didn’t want to leave, but I missed my friends at FEMA. Plus, with the news from this tablet, I needed to start investigating the coordinates.

Making my way through the city back to where I left my boat, I got the feeling I was being followed. Looking behind me, I could see a shadowy figure hugging the buildings. I took a sharp turn down an alley and hid behind a dumpster. when the figure reached the opening, I could tell it wasn’t a Zombie. Readying my Charbroiler, I called out.

“Who’s there, and why are you following me?”

“Night? Its me, Kadie. I want to come with you, Nic and Kate didnt feel right letting you go off on your own.”

I emerged from my hiding place, and looked at her. “Alright, lets get moving then. I want to get to the docks before nightfall.”

We made our way forward with little to no communication. We get to the docks with no problems, untie the boat and cast off.

“Alright, Kadie, here’s the deal. If you are going to be coming with me, you have to do what I say. It’s going to be a few days before we reach land again. If you have issues with taking orders from me, I will take you in closer to land and drop you off and you can go back to the cemetery.”

It actually made all kinds of sense. On top of having living space for the top dog’s family members (something the greenbriar bunker had been lacking), Disney needed a ton of computers to run everything. This meant that the government didn’t even need to hide them, just come in, load your programs, and you have instant backup for all the CIA and DOD computers.

Of course it does leave the question, why wasn’t it made a Green Zone?

I stuck the file in my bag and started back upstairs.

When I got back up to the living quarters level of our stronghold I got the message that Night was taking a group of us on a long distance foraging expedition.

That trip eventually lead us to Bluetone Productions. I had put the whole Disney thing out of my mind until I was grabbing some stuff out of my tool bag to fix their broadcast equipment and found the file I had stuck in there.

Now, if I’d just stuck the folder back in the bag, I’d be safely back at FEMA with everyone else.

Instead I decided to show it to Night Angel to see what he thought about it.

Unfortunately what he thought about it was that if it had been a secret government base it might still have a stack of supplies we could use.

On the other hand, if the government had not made it a Green Zone because they had repurposed it, then having a bunch of us just show up could be very bad. Therefore, we needed someone to scout it out for us.

Then he looked at me and asked “By the way, how did you know it’s Disney World, it doesn’t actually say it anywhere in here?”

By the time I had finished explaining that Nancy and I had been Disney Vacation Club members and had been going down once a year for a number of years, and had done a bunch of the behind the scenes tours, I already knew who the scout would be.

Once we got Bluetone back online, Night Angel came to give me my marching orders.

Night Angel had a potential lead on Palidin and was off to where ever it was going to take him. The rest of the team was being recalled to base, so I was going to be on a solo mission.

It was a recon only mission. Go down and see if the government was there. If yes, get out. If not, see if there are supplies worth getting.

It was slow going at first, but I made a little better time when I hooked up with a caravan of survivors who were headed to the Florida keys. I don’t think the leader bought my story of me trying to find my parents, but she didn’t push it.

Four days later, I thanked them for the company and headed over to what used to be called the happiest place on earth.

Well enough reminiscing, tomorrow I’ll see if I can scout out the magic kingdom.

In the weeks that followed after we left Bluetone, the rest of the team got called back to base to help set up our new greenhouse. Alone, I made my way to one of the last working ports in the country. The Sharks controlled these waters, and I had to be very careful when dealing with them.

With FEMA’s recent ascension to the top 5 rated safe havens within the infected area, we had the resources to help other houses however we could, I offered the Sharks a supply line of medicine, but when they heard that I was hunting down info on Paladin, they offered me the use of one of their boats for free, as long as I included them in any assault we made on the Paladin HQ. Apparently, they lost a few of their own to the bastards.

Now, almost a month after the siege at Bluetone, I reached my destination. Hollinwood, Lancashire, England. The home of one of my old contacts, Nic Saunders, a.k.a. the Wizard. This man was capable of solving almost any issue, and was one of the best hackers I knew. The problem was finding him. He and his crew were holed up in some cemetery. Walking through the town, I was painfully aware of the fact that life on Earth had come to a grinding stop. I could tell that this area used to be a bustling community, thriving with people and shops of all types.

Lost in thought, I somehow managed to pick up a couple undead followers, and more were on the way. “Oh shit…” I said, and broke off into a run, hoping I could find the Cemetery before the Zeds overwhelmed me. I made a left turn and there it was, the stone archway leading into the cemetery. I turned around and saw a full fledged horde. Opening fire, I slowly walked to the arch and started yelling.

“Nic! If you are in there, I could use your help!” was all I was able to get out before the shots started ringing from behind the walls of the cemetery. The gates slid open a little and I felt strong arms pull me in, gates sliding shut behind me.

“Well Night Angel, you certainly know how to make an entrance. To what do we know the pleasure?”

“Nic Saunders, I’m glad to see you’re still alive. Shall we kill these bastards first, talk later?” I replied with a smile

“Sounds like a deal, but you better have a good explanation for bringing Hell to our doorstep.”

After an hour of Zombie killing mayhem, the last zed in the area was down, and Nic introduced me to the rest of Cemetery.

“Now, down to business, why are you here?” Nic said, sitting down at a table Kateland, the Cemetery’s leader, had procured for us. Placing a beer in front of myself and Nic, Kate sat down with us.

“More importantly, how the heck did you get here?” she asked

“Funny story actually. I borrowed a boat from the Sharks.”

“The Sharks? I thought they were non too fond of outsiders?” Nic asked

“They aren’t, but when I told them what I needed it for, they let up. In the North American continent, the Government of the Green Zones have been sending out hit squads meant to take out the survivors. They’re calling themselves Paladin. Heard of them?”

Kate perked up at the mention of Paladin.

“Bastards killed my sister.”

“I am deeply sorry Kate. If its any consolation, I’m trying to shut them down. That’s why I came here, I need Nic’s help.” I said, glancing at the man. “That is, if he is up for a challenge?”

“What do you have?” he asked, a bit hesitant. I passed him a copy of all the files I had on Paladin, as well as an old tablet I had found bearing the Paladin logo.

“The files are self-explanatory, its the tablet I’m interested in. I’m wondering if you can get some info off of it for me, if there is anything left to salvage.”

“Give me a few days, and I will see what I can do.” He said, picking up the tablet and information and walking off.

“Night, we will let you stay here while Nic goes through the information on that tablet, just try to stay out of trouble.” Kate said, before rising herself and leaving the table.

Well that went about as well as expected. I thought, rising and walking around the Cemetery. It feels nice to be in a new place, taking in the sights. I only wish it were under better circumstances…

Trading is a very important part of post-apocalyptic dystopia, which is why, in my absence hunting down Paladin, I’ve asked Brian S. to write up a tips and trick guide of sorts for helping you make wise decisions in your trading methods. Enjoy.

Trader level:In this game, cash is not usually that hard to get. More often you will find you need supplies.

Supplies are needed for upgrading weapons and armor (needed for both better hunting and dueling). Also many special missions will leave you scrambling for health packs.

Both health packs and upgrades get more expensive as you raise in levels.

While scavenging will get some supplies it’s not enough, and it uses energy. So where are you going to get all theses supplies? Your outposts, that’s where.

Authors note: This help page was a little harder to write than others, as there is a lot of variations possible, with a great deal relying on play style.I will therefore give some overall information on trading outposts, and leveling up. Then give some general suggestions I’ve complied from various sources and my own experience.

First lets talk about leveling. You get 1 skill point for each time you collect from one of your outposts. Therefore the more outposts you collect from, the more skill points you get and the faster you level.This makes trader skill unique in two ways.

First you don’t need to use energy or stamina. Second, because of this, you don’t have to chose between this skill and another. I.e do I use my stamina to heal or duel.

Outposts:When you investigate a place, one of the options you will find at the bottom of your screen is build outpost. If you hit this, a screen will appear with the types of outposts you can build at your current level. Each type either takes cash to build and will produce supplies, or take supples and produce cash for you.The more expensive the outpost, the higher the amount produced, and the longer it takes to produce.The cash/supplies can be used to build more outposts, repair or buy weapons, or upgrade weapons and armor.

Limits and penalties:Like all skills your trader skill level is limited to you overall level and you should keep it as close as possible.You can have 3 times the number of outposts as your current trader level. However, if you exceed your current trader level, you get a penalty. Hence of your trader level is 10, you can have up to 30 outposts. However, you start getting penalized on the amount you collect from each if you have more than 10. The further you go over 10, the higher the penalty. You also can get penalties at the time you collect if the outposts are too far away from your current location. Again the further away the bigger the penalty.Finally you can get penalized if you collect too long after the time your outpost becomes available for collection.

How many outposts should I have? As stated earlier, you can have up to 3 times your trader level in outposts, but you get a penalty if the number exceeds you current trader level.While I’ve never seen their formulas, at least two individuals whose math skills I respect, have determined that you hit the best penalty to extra income ratio at 2.5 times your trader level. Hence if your trader level is 26, your max output will be achieved at 65 outposts (2.5 x 26) I have had a few that have said that they felt they maxed out at 1.5 times their trader level. Use which ever you feel works best for you

A possible reason for this discrepancy may be availability of locations to place you outposts. If the number of game locations near the real world location you normally are at when you collect from your outposts is limited, you may find that the additional distance penalties make the additional outposts appear less desirable.

What type cash or supply?Again, as stated earlier, cash gets easier to get asupply producing 48 hr outposts, or I can put them in bars so when the next weapon comes up I can cash in the bars in and buy it.

What size outposts should I buy? Again, there are as many theories on this as there are players, so I will give some over all considerations for you to keep in mind, and some suggestions that will work for most people.First and foremost how often can you play and from where? If you can only sign on once or twice a day, then 3 and 6 hr outposts are pretty worthless to you. Most of the rest of this article will be of little value, and i suggest you stick to 24 (and as soon as they are available, 48 hr) outposts.

Otherwise here are some ideas to consider:

1) If your trader skill is really lagging behind your overall skill, you may wish to invest in the Max number of the 3Hr outposts you can. If you can try and collect every 3 hrs , or at least as close as you can. You will level up one or two levels per day.Your penalties will be pretty high so be prepared to do without much additional supplies for a while, but it’s the fastest way to catch up.

2) Try and keep all your similar outposts in sync. It’s easier to go on once per day and collect all your 24hr outposts at one time then keeping track of a bunch of different collection times. If you don’t sync. I.e. you prefer to have a little each day for flexibility. I suggest you set the timer on your phone so you don’t miss collections.

3) Mixed outposts: For the most part you will want the majority of your outposts to be the longest time you can. It simply makes getting a lot of supplies at one time easier. Which is needed when your upping the level of weapons and armor. It also gives you enough to buy some bars, so you can have some available when you need it for med packs during one of those just how many hits is it going to take to kill this thing missions.The down side is that it also means you collect less often and your trading skill will drop behind your overall skill as you play. It can therefore be beneficial to have some quicker collection time outposts in the mix to keep the gap closer. How many and which type will vary based on issues discussed earlier. Personally I try and keep between 1.5 and 2 times my level in 48 hr outposts. This gives me plenty of supplies for leveling weapons and putting some aside in bars for emergencies. When I want to up my trader level I just buy 1 times my level ( bringing me to 3 times my level for total outposts) and run them till I catch up, then drop them.

5) Variations I am aware of: Some strategies I am aware of that seem to work for people whom I’ve discussed this with are as follows.1.5 x level in 48hr, 1 x level in 24 hrAll are in sync. Gets one really big hit every other day to up weapons and armor. Uses the smaller hit on off day to by bars to use for healing when needed.1.5 x level of whatever your Highest producing outpost is and 1 x your level in 3 hr outposts. Will give you a decent supply collection at whatever level you are at and a slow bit steady increase in trader level.

Hopefully these will give you a starting point that you can then fine tune to your play style and level.

A week had passed since we reclaimed Bluetone Productions. There had been no sight of any new zeds or any of Chyram’s “Cultists” but after talking with Jammer in the aftermath of the attack, I have come to believe the girls word.

“Jammer, have you heard anything about a group called Paladin?” I asked

“Yeah, a little. They were a pre-Outbreak strike force Why?” the DJ responded

“Well, they aren’t exactly ‘pre-Outbreak’ anymore, I…” I began

“Wait, you’re telling me they are out there right now? Why aren’t they helping us get rid of the walkers and rebuild society?” Jammer asked, pulling out a pencil and pad of paper, taking notes

“Well, because they are working for the Government inside the Green Zone, trying to wipe out survivors who are building a name for themselves. Before I found FEMA, I ran into quite a few teams, wiped out a lot of my former contacts. I’m trying to find out why they are trying to eliminate survivors.”

“Can you describe what survivors should look out for?”

God, this is like a debriefing all over again… I thought before responding

“They usually travel in squads of two, but I’ve seen squads as big as 6. Wear all black SWAT team armor, and are armed to the teeth with weapons that are nearly impossible to find outside the Green Zone or for an arm and a leg at the ATCO markets. Sometimes they are hard to track though. They were trained by the KGB, CIA, MI6 and lord knows what other pre-Outbreak intelligence agencies.”

“Do you have any other information on them that I could pass to my listeners, now that we have the station back up and running?”

I slid him a copy of the file from the FEMA Archives. After he read through it, he nodded and excused himself. I rose and shook his hand. Gathering my team, we left Bluetone to move on to the next big find.

“Night, where are we off to now?” Pink asked, coming up beside me

I looked at her and smiled “We’re off to see the wizard.”

She looked at me incredulously “WHAT? What are you talking about?”

Laughing, I answered “What I mean is, we’re off to find a mode of transportation. We’re going hunting for more info. Just trust me on this one.”